Unity
by Chaotic Alliance
Summary: A Project Blur story. After Insurrection, the world is at peace... but not for long. Eggman's boundless ambition leads him to recreate an old project in the hope of finally eliminating Sonic once and for all, using all he's learned from Chaos, Shadow... and Sonic himself. Not even Sonic can face this enemy without his friends - and his stubborn independence could get him killed.
1. Prologue: Waking Up

Welcome at long last to the second full-length story in the Project Blur universe! A few months after the events of Insurrection, the world is once more at peace, rebuilding what was destroyed by the Black Arms. However, they aren't the only ones who have been rebuilding. Inspired by his near success working with Shadow, Dr. Robotnik has turned his attention to a new and improved version of the creation that brought Sonic the closest he's ever been to death... Hyper Metal Sonic.

Sonic Heroes had an awful lot of potential that we both felt was ridiculously wasted. Insurrection needed to happen first, or Shadow's amnesia would make no sense (Sonic would _never_ have left him alone long enough!), and Eggman also needed longer to prepare a new plan than a revolution already waiting to happen would need to ignite itself. With that slight loop made in the timeline, everything was ready to go! In Unity, Project Blur ties in cause and consequence to the events of Sonic Heroes, a chain of events linking back into the past and spilling on across the future.

(The Project Blur universe covers the "main" Sonic games without external input, with the exception that Sonic CD and the Sonic movie are fused into one, because we absolutely love that depiction of Metal. For some more slightly old fic touching on that subject, check out Ardil the Traveller's solo profile!)

We hope you enjoy the story! Let us know what you think! (Updates every Saturday, or that's the plan!)

\- The Chaotic Alliance (Ardil and Sparky)

* * *

 _ **Prologue**_  
 **Waking Up**

* * *

Blackness.

 _Where am I?_

A point of light spread into a line. Sound crackled, modulated into a hiss and a hum.

 _I feel weird._

The line slid open upwards and down, eyes opening. Seen from an oddly tilted angle, the fat man, _Eggman_ , was turning away from a computer screen that read:

ACTIVATION SEQUENCE:  
COMPLETE

"At last!" He came closer. "Can you hear me?"

 _Yeah, I can hear you._ He wanted to twitch his ears, but couldn't. Instead, he grasped for a voice, found it unexpectedly.

"-can hear you."

"Repeat that!"

"Yeah, I can hear you!" Exasperated, he pushed himself up, the click and clatter of metal on metal echoing his movements. It wasn't right, but it wasn't wrong, either. He focused on the doctor, felt conflicted for a moment, and sat still.

"Good! Now repeat your primary objective." The doctor leant forwards as if eagerly awaiting the answer, an answer that shot at once into the forefront of his mind with stunning force.

 _"Kill him."_

"Very good!" Eggman rubbed his hands together in glee. "Report your current status."

 _I feel fine. Weird, but fine._ "Pretty good."

"In _detail._ "

He rolled his eyes and reached back to the lightning shapes at the back of his mind, answers appearing in words that he only felt, speaking themselves almost before he could think them through. "Power source stable. Motor functions optimal. Visual sensors calibrated for low light. Jet function optimal at low levels, no data for high-power calibration." He paused, took over again. "Time for a test run!"

"You," Eggman grumbled, "were better without speakers."

Fractured memories slipped through his mind, momentary images. Cold and pain, _this world isn't big enough for the both of us_ , determination and fire, _one of us has to go_. Something buried in his subconscious shifted into unease and he let the memories fade. The past didn't matter, only one thing in the world mattered. He was going to win.

Eggman turned, walked to a door and opened it. Outside, a corridor wall meant he couldn't see much. "Proceed to the testing site, then."

 _I'm going to win._

Silence.

"Did you hear me?!"

He twitched, jumped off the table with a light click as he hit the floor. _Yeah, yeah._ "Testing site, right." He was about to ask which way when he realised he knew, a good chunk of the layout imprinted into his mind. Had he been here before? Or did he just know? He shook his head: he didn't care. _Let's go!_

The testing site was a vast indoor arena, almost hemispherical in shape, catwalks and girders bearing targets and forming obstacles in the air. Finally he could open up, not certain what had stopped him in the corridor, not caring. Speed and power took over, limitless, effortless. From a bunker down on the ground, Eggman monitored him, occasionally issuing commands. He obeyed them for now, not certain what impulse prompted him to.

Eventually, the arena badly damaged now by high-speed impacts and his plating scuffed here and there with streaks of weaker metal, he stopped again, drifting lightly down to the ground on a precise jet that cut off just as his feet touched the floor. Eggman stepped out of the bunker and walked up to him, a wide grin visible under his bushy moustache.

"Very good! Unfortunately, you still aren't complete."

 _What?_ "What do you mean?"

"Silence!" He found he couldn't disobey the command, and settled for imagining a glare directed at the annoying figure in front of him. "You must have noticed your power source is far stronger than its previous version! Strong enough to burn out even that jet I designed you. I have great plans for you — when you have the data you need, you will be indestructible!"

 _I think I'm pretty tough already!_ He still couldn't speak, but he looked down at his arm, rubbing off a streak of weaker metal with a wrenching squealing noise. A _ren't I?_ Looking up again, he met Eggman's eyes over the curve of the fat man's stomach, challenging him to answer the silent question even as his feelings lurched unpleasantly. Something about his strength… something scared him. His objective scared him. Was he strong enough? Suddenly he wasn't sure, and he hated it all the more for it.

"Your predecessor may have failed," Eggman went on, "but you will be far stronger! Yes, _you_ will be my greatest creation!" He gestured grandly. "You will destroy that annoying hedgehog and the world will be mine!"

 _Oh yeah?_ But of course it would, except… was he really going to let Eggman rule over _him?_ Even the temporarily imposed silence was a restriction he hated. He folded his arms and kept listening.

"All you have to do is scan a few things and bring back the data on them. Even in this state, you'll be able to do that! Four little steps and you will finally be complete!"

He tensed, the equivalent to gritting his teeth, focusing all his will against the hated command that still overrode his own desires. "What four steps?" he forced out, surprising himself, frustrated and angry a moment later when Eggman didn't even seem to realise what had just happened. _You can't control me!_

"You're going to have the morphing power of Chaos! Yes, the ancient God of Destruction! You'll have the powers of the Ultimate Life Form, Shadow the Hedgehog! And you'll have a new copy of the life data from your counterpart! He won't be able to stop you then!"

 _My counterpart. The one who calls himself Sonic. "He has to die!"_ If he could have smiled, he might have. Yes, it all made sense. The blue hedgehog scared him, even as he was him. He had to go. Then there would only be one, unique and strong, better and faster than anything else in the world. Only one, the real Sonic, the best and strongest.

"Yes," Eggman agreed, "he does."

 _Did I say that out loud?_ He shrugged it off, uncaring. _Well, whatever. I'll get all this power, and "I'll kill him! Nothing can stop me!"_

"That's the spirit!" Eggman laughed.


	2. Echoes I: Losing You

Hello, all! Welcome to the second chapter of Unity, arriving as scheduled! We hope you enjoy it!

* * *

 _ **Echoes I:**_  
 **Losing You**

* * *

The world shot by in a blast of speed that only he could even make sense of, moving so fast he was gone in a thunderclap before he could even be seen. A leap and he was on a platform; another running jump and he swung around, spun sideways to run along a wall, leapt clear and all but cartwheeled through the air to his next landing, as sure and safe as ever, certain in his own skill. Behind him, just barely behind him, a chill metal figure kept pace, matching his every move, tracking him through the night with glowing red eyes. Nothing could ever keep up with him, nothing could ever match him, eternally invincible, but his thoughts echoed strangely and his moves doubled and when that cold alloy figure arced away and around, for once it met him, intercepted his dodge, hit at just the right angle, impossibly perfect attack punching into his spin and breaking it, throwing him aside. Shocked, bewildered, he fell away, away and into something, slammed against a pillar and falling…

But he never hit the ground. Something told him it was coming just in time for him to look up, but not enough time to move. Cold metal closed around his leg, saving him from one fate only to fling him into a worse. He saw himself as if from outside, hanging helpless upside-down, _impossible_. He'd never been helpless, never was helpless, nothing he couldn't fight. He watched himself falter, watched himself fall, broken.

Through another pair of eyes, he watched a city burn.

He knew the end would come before he ever really could have, knew and didn't want to see it but couldn't make it change. The moment came when everything changed and the world spun around him and two sets of thoughts clicked into perfect unison as if there could never have been any other way, but pain and damage mixed and matched and it was always far too late. The final impact was far too much, malfunctioning, unresponsive: pain and paralysis and gone beyond repair, his worst nightmare come true. An eternity of nothing stretched away, and he knew it was over, could never have been any other way. He was unique, always had been. Only one… alone. Even as he went down he knew what was happening, reached his hand out into heat so strong it burned, his green eyes meeting their match in a red reflection as silver metal burned red below him, as silver fur fell away, as his hand was refused, knocked aside and it was over.

A broken robot sank away into magma. A silver hedgehog fell in blazing flame beneath the uncaring stars. And Sonic could do nothing but watch. All he could do was watch as everything died before his eyes.

-.-.-

Sonic woke up with a gasp, his already impossibly fast heart racing in his ears as he sat upright, shaking his head sharply as if to deny the memories any hold on him. Leaping lightly to his feet, he jogged to the edge of the building, looking down from the skyscraper across the countless lights of the city spread out below. Even in the middle of the night, it was busy, lights streaming along its roads, glowing from behind closed windows. None of the countless lives playing out below him even knew he was there, and he lifted his eyes to the horizon, looking off into the distance. Somewhere out there, he knew, Shadow was asleep, as oblivious as the rest of the world — and that was a good thing. Sonic didn't want any questions, and he certainly wouldn't be answering any, not today. It wasn't an anniversary, not of either one, but then he didn't count them, never had and never would, noticing only whenever the memories struck home.

With the stars still shining down on him, Sonic leapt from the top of the building and began to run. Later, perhaps, when the sun had risen, he'd race out and swing past Shadow's place, but for now, he was just going to run, and bury the memories that unsettled him in the limitless thrill of his speed.

* * *

Liked it? Or think we could do better? Leave a review!


	3. Echoes II: It Doesn't Matter

Hello all, and welcome to another chapter of Unity! Events are in motion, but little is known of them... yet.

Let us know what you think!

* * *

 _ **Echoes II:**_  
 **It Doesn't Matter**

* * *

The rest of the night was spent in freedom, in running, darting from one place to the next in the endless thrill of his unlimited energy. It always worked, it had to, but for some reason the chill touch of the distant past stubbornly refused to fade. As he finally slowed to an easy pace within the limits of the nearest city to the half-rebuilt Westopolis, his course veered towards Shadow's apartment, seeking out company and fun and friendly competition. Yet even as he reached the door and lifted his hand to knock, a flicker of nameless dread forced him to pause, just for an instant. Annoyed at himself, Sonic pushed it back and knocked on the door in rapid-fire sequence.

A few moments of silence stretched out into forever, until just as Sonic lifted his hand to knock again, he heard Shadow's voice.

"Coming!"

Footsteps followed, coming to the door and turning the handle. It swung open to reveal Shadow, just as he'd known it would, looking still slightly asleep with his spikes flattened on one side and his boots and gloves missing.

"Sonic?" He smiled, tone welcoming in his usual quiet way. "Good morning."

"Hey Shadow!" Sonic sauntered into the apartment without waiting to be asked, grinning. "Sleeping in?" He wandered around in a circuit of the room, taking in the furnishings: bookshelves actually filled with books rather than the random oddments that littered Sonic's; comfortable chairs already worn by Shadow's spikes; a high-quality television from Tails' company; some pictures on the wall of places Shadow had been. Sonic sat down as Shadow closed the door, turning to him.

"I was talking to Rouge and Brutus last night."

"Yeah?" Sonic replied at once, idly swinging his feet with restless energy. "Have they spied on anyone interesting lately?"

Shadow crossed to the chairs, sitting across from Sonic with his wrists loosely crossed on his lap. "Apparently they've been seeing some odd activity in Doctor Robotnik's bases. They were asking me to work for GUN freelance and help them investigate." His tone was characteristically calm, but Sonic's ears pricked up at once.

"What'd you say?"

Shadow continued explaining, unfazed by his friend's hyperactivity. "They wouldn't tell me all the details, but it seems he's been gathering resources unusually quickly, as though he's preparing for something."

"Huh." Sonic hopped back to his feet and crossed to the glass balcony doors to look out across the city, shining in the sunlight. "I was gonna go see Tails next anyway. Maybe I'll swing by Angel Island and wind Knuckles up!" He turned as he spoke, grinning, and only Tails could have detected the note of unease that lay beneath it. Whatever fear that dream had woken wasn't going away, and deep down, a part of him wanted to make sure that everyone was all right.

Shadow hadn't noticed the unease, but he raised a brow as Sonic turned. "You're fidgeting even more than usual. Worried?"

"Me?" Sonic asked, tone laughing. "Heh, no way! Besides, I had no idea Eggman was doing anything until you just told me!" And yet, somewhere deep down, he felt it was true, almost as if he'd known all along, as if he knew that whatever it was would be big and it wouldn't be good.

"Hm." Shadow didn't press the matter. Even if Sonic was worried, he doubted he'd admit it — Shadow himself wouldn't have. "Do you think I should take the assignment?"

He shrugged. "Do you want to? I guess I'll go look into it, anyway!"

"All right. One way or another, I'm sure we'll catch up to each other — and whatever the doctor's up to."

"Yeah…" Sonic turned back to the window. "I'd better call Tails and tell him, or I'll get there and find the plane's in pieces all over the workshop!"

Shadow chuckled. "Need a phone?"

Sonic spun again, facing him. "Yeah — thanks!" He glanced around again, looking for Shadow's, and crossed to it. His own phones had a tendency to get lost, broken, or even on one occasion deliberately dropped to escape Amy, but he had Tails' number memorised regardless. Shadow vanished into his bedroom to grab what few clothes he wore as the call went through.

"Hello?" Tails' voice echoed strangely as he answered.

"Hey, Tails!"

"Oh, hi Sonic!"

"What's up with your voice? Did you fall down a well or something?"

Tails laughed. "No," he said, and his voice cleared as if he'd just moved something away from his face, "I was just doing some welding."

"Feel like welding some robots?" Sonic shot back. "Apparently GUN just told Shadow Eggman's getting ready for something again!"

"Uh-oh…"

"Grab a plane and I'll meet you halfway!" Behind him, a door opened and shut quietly as Shadow came out of his room, clipping his right bracelet back on over his glove. Sonic flicked an ear back at him absently, picking up the noise and working out what it was without paying much attention.

"Okay! Where are you?"

"Shadow's place. It's not too shabby!"

"Hi, Shadow!" Tails called. He doubted he was on speakerphone, but Sonic's ears were more than sensitive enough to pick his words up from across the room anyway. If Sonic could do it, Tails was fairly sure Shadow could as well. Though he couldn't see it, he was proven right a moment later by Shadow's smile. Sonic didn't give him time to respond in any way Tails could hear, however.

"Better get going, Tails — I'm gonna start now! You'd better not still be at the workshop when I see you!"

Tails laughed. "Okay, Sonic! Bye!" He hung up, and so did Sonic, grinning.

"That's my cue to get outta here! See you later, Shadow!"

"See you later."

Sonic was already at the door by the time Shadow finished speaking, and waved before bolting off down the hallway. Left alone in his apartment once more, Shadow shook his head. Sonic's whirlwind exuberance was different to anything he'd ever encountered in his limited life. He didn't dislike it, but it was certainly wearing: he'd found himself thinking of his new friend as pleasantly irritating quite early on, and the label had stuck. After he'd closed the door, he picked up his phone, calling back the number Brutus had given him. He'd take the mission and find out what was happening, even if he did still feel uncomfortable about working with GUN. The thought of working with Rouge again, and alongside Sonic and his friends, was one he could look forward to.


	4. Friends Old and New I: Racing Reunion

_Settle down, everybody. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin! ...Or continue. Whatever!_

* * *

 _ **Friends Old and New I**_  
 **Racing Reunion**

* * *

Sonic shot through the city at the speeds that had given him his name, keeping just slow enough to avoid actually hurting anyone in his wake, until he was free and clear into the countryside and could _really_ speed up. Tails would be out in his workshop in the Mystic Ruins, and as ever, Sonic threw himself into a race to get there first, pass the halfway mark despite everything in his way before Tails could get there flying in a straight line. It wasn't that he cared who won, far from it: he usually did, but that wasn't the point. It was just that it was _fun._

Sonic guessed he was almost three quarters of the way to Tails' workshop when he finally saw it, a distinctive X-shape diving down towards him. He slowed and skidded to a halt, waving up at the plane with a grin as it circled, transformed back into a relatively normal biplane, and came down for a bumpy landing on the rough ground.

"You brought the T2 this time, huh?"

"Yeah!" Tails said, leaping out of the cockpit and landing in front of him. "I wanted to beat you to the middle this time! But I guess I took too long packing everything into the plane…"

"Everything? What'd you bring?"

"Just the Emerald detector and a few bits and pieces, and I had to get the Chaos Emerald out of the Cyclone and into this plane's power chamber. But by then you were probably already well out of the city, right?"

"You bet!" Sonic hopped up onto the back of the plane, grinning. "You gotta be ready to go any moment if you wanna beat me!"

Tails laughed and shook his head. "I know, Sonic. So," and he leapt back into the cockpit, looking over his shoulder to see his friend, "where are we going?"

"Angel Island!"

Tails blinked. "Huh?"

"I was gonna bug Knuckles anyway before I heard about Eggman, so let's go give him advance warning before that Emerald of his gets stolen again!"

"Okay." There was the faintest note of surprise in his voice, which Sonic ignored as the engine revved back up and the plane began to roll forwards, swiftly climbing into the air. Tails tapped a couple of commands into his cockpit computer, calling up some flight charts. "I've got the predicted path for Angel Island, but it's going to be a couple hours of flight even in jet mode. It's way out over the ocean right now."

"Then let's get going!" Sonic lifted his arms as the plane began to transform, held safely away from the surface as it reconfigured. The jet engine folded out of the bottom of the plane and took over from the retracting propellors, blasting them off into the distance faster than anything else Tails had ever built. It was the closest he'd ever come to outright being able to keep up with his friend.

* * *

 _Don't forget to leave us a review!  
_


	5. Friends Old and New II: Briefing

_Hey guys! As promised, here comes the next chapter! Hope you're still enjoying!_

* * *

 _ **Friends Old and New II**_  
 **Briefing**

* * *

Shadow jetted up to the base and came to a neat stop at the gates, looking up at the guard. Although the Mobian inside, a rat, was probably only his own height, he was sat up in the gatehouse at a little under human eye level, and had to look down at him somewhat. Rather to Shadow's surprise, the rat saluted him, pressing a button that caused the metal and wire gates to slide open.

"The General's waiting for you, sir. He gave instructions that you were to be escorted directly to him: if you go to the main entrance over there," and he pointed, "someone will be waiting for you."

Shadow nodded, slightly taken aback by this reception. Even several months on from the battles and revelations that had at last explained the attack on the ARK, the military still provoked an instinctive antagonism in him, leaving him forever expecting the worst. "Thank you."

"Good day, sir," the rat called after him as he set off once more, walking alongside the road towards the building he'd been directed to. Uniformed figures going about their business paused to look at him, some commenting to one another — Shadow's sharp ears even picked up a few of the closer exchanges.

"Look, that's Shadow!"

"Shadow's here!"

"Eyes front, soldier!"

"I wonder what he's doing on the base?"

A couple looked at him more warily, perhaps recalling some of his less than stellar moments, his mind clouded by amnesia and vengeance. Shadow paid them no heed, at least outwardly. He couldn't change what had happened, what he'd done, though he regretted it.

As promised, he was met the instant he entered the building by a tall, uniformed human who led him through the building and down a flight of stairs to what had to be a briefing room, knocking on the door and opening it only after hearing a sharp "Come in" from within.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, sir," the soldier said, saluting briskly. Standing at one end of the room, General Tower nodded once.

"Thank you. You're dismissed."

"Sir!" She turned on her heel and left, closing the door behind her and leaving Shadow to look around. Leaning back casually in a chair, Rouge waved to him with a slightly secretive smile. He gave her a nod in response and stepped up to the table, electing to stay standing.

"Thank you for coming, Shadow," Brutus began. Their relationship had improved somewhat over the past months, but it was still awkward. Fifty years of hatred, however misplaced, couldn't simply be undone overnight. "I told you on the phone that we've detected Dr. Robotnik massing his forces in recent weeks. Specifically, there's been a lot of activity in this region." He gestured to a map projected onto the plain, white wall, and a little point of red light appeared from what Shadow realised was a laser pointer held in his hand. It circled a fairly large area, Shadow recognising a few place names after a moment and placing it as a location on the United Federation's borders. "We've been unable to learn his precise intentions, but his plans are rarely overly complicated. It's likely he intends to make an attack soon."

"That's where we come in," Rouge said. "Right, sir?"

"That's right. We have a new agent I want you to take in with you, a robot we recovered from the doctor's base during the Black Arms revolt. He has an up-to-date knowledge of his systems and capabilities, and made it a condition of joining us that he be allowed to serve in a front-line position." His voice lowered slightly. "I'm not entirely sure how stable he is, but it's been agreed the opportunity is too good to pass up. That's the other reason I want you specifically: if something goes wrong at any stage, you'll be able to handle it."

"So we get the robot in, find out what's going on, and get out? That sounds easy enough," Rouge said, smiling a little. Shadow considered for a few moments longer before nodding. There had never been a robot built that could match him, and if Dr. Robotnik was up to something, they needed to know what it was. He did, however, have one question.

"Does he have a name?"

"He answers to Omega. Beyond that, just the unit designation Dr. Robotnik gave him, E-123 Omega."

Shadow nodded again, quiet. Omega… they'd have to meet him.


	6. Friends Old and New III: New Companion

_Hey all! So here comes the next chapter, in which we meet another team member!_

 _Also! We have a cover image, albeit only in black and white! It will soon be coloured, and in the meantime, Ardil would like to apologise for its current lower quality - the excuse being that all Ardil's scanner cables have been missing for months..._

 _And hey, let us know what you think!_

* * *

 _ **Friends Old and New III**_  
 **New Companion**

* * *

Shadow and Rouge followed their escort, a Private Wilkinson, across the base to the sprawling complex of the engineering and robotics corps. Shadow glanced around, automatically noting which way he'd come, which direction the exits of the base were. The building they were about to enter was long and low, almost warehouse-like, but its walls and doors were as sturdy as any of the others. The outer door wasn't secured save by a pair of soldiers on duty standing outside it, who came to attention and nodded stiffly as they passed through.

Inside the building, the halls were high and wide, definitely designed for things bigger than humans to pass through, never mind Mobians. The main door had been wide enough that Shadow expected they could even drive tanks through the building. Rouge seemed completely unconcerned by it, as if she'd seen it all before and didn't find anything particularly worthy of her attention. Perhaps she had.

They turned a few corners and were shown into a large hall that, from the barricades and distant targets, Shadow presumed was a firing range. His ears involuntarily flattened slightly, but he kept his attention on their escort as she gestured across to one corner of the hall, shielded from most of the range by transparent panels.

"He's waiting over there."

Even without the gesture, Shadow would have been able to pick out the robot without difficulty. Designed along different lines to any of the GUN models, he was still painted in Doctor Robotnik's colours, massive arms and broad shoulders poorly matched with spindly legs and a flattened head that was really nothing more than a mount for a pair of illuminated photoreceptors and a speaker grille between them. A pair of uniformed humans stood by, not exactly guarding him. Even they were somewhat shorter than the heavily-built robot, who turned his head to watch the two Mobians approach.

"You must be Omega," Shadow said calmly.

"Affirmative," Omega replied, identifying them in turn. "You must be Shadow and Rouge!"

Rouge smiled. "Indeed we are."

The higher-ranked of the two soldiers beside him, whose insignia said his name was Lieutenant Commander Angseth, spoke up. "Omega here has been through all of our standard tests, and passed ahead of our most similar units in almost all of them. He's ready to leave when you are, although I think you might all appreciate a demonstration of his combat style first."

"That might be a good idea," Rouge agreed. She looked around swiftly, and, spotting a rack of ear protectors arranged by intended species, picked up a fairly heavy set to wear. Shadow eyed them, but decided to leave well enough alone: his hearing was acute all right, but he was pretty sure he could tolerate a wider range of sound than most people, and being on the base was making him uneasy enough that he felt a subconscious distaste at the idea of restricting himself. The humans followed Rouge's lead as Omega stepped out into the firing range, a door closing behind him to keep the observers safe from stray ricochets.

"Initiating G-U-N test protocol zero-three," the robot announced, raising both arms and rotating sharp-fingered hands to reveal the muzzles of the guns that occupied most of his arm space. Shadow's ears went back at their staccato reports, but he watched closely as Omega moved about, staying within the red-painted square and firing on each mobile target as it presented itself.

Beside him, Angseth watched Shadow rather than Omega. He'd seen him in person only once before, during the battle against the Black Arms insurgents. Then, Shadow had been blazing gold, wreathed in the unlimited power of the Chaos Emeralds, drifting above the ground rather than deigning to walk on it. He'd delivered the leader of the Black Arms directly into the custody of Angseth's own robotic platoon. Without the power of the Emeralds filling him, he looked a lot smaller, more mortal, but Angseth wasn't sure that was actually true. He knew only as much as anyone else did about Shadow, from his past actions and from Professor Robotnik's two very different legacy messages — one announcing his and Shadow's intent to destroy the world, one asking him to save it — and he still wasn't entirely sure what he thought of the black hedgehog.

The range's program finally ended, Omega's guns retracting with a whirr as he turned around to come back through to the observation area. Rouge took off her earpieces as he did, looking to Shadow.

"Now we know who to ask if we ever need a lot of enemies gone in a hurry, hmm?" Like many of the doctor's robots, Omega made up for having less than pinpoint accuracy with sheer numbers of bullets, and he wouldn't be fast enough to ever catch Shadow off guard, but his reactions, predicting multi-stage sequences to allow his shots to reach inaccessible targets without ever leaving the marked box, proved his intelligence, at least in a combat capacity. He'd be very useful in precisely the kinds of high-intensity battles that she preferred to avoid.

"Robotnik really outdid himself," the junior technician said as Shadow nodded to Rouge. "All we had to do was switch him over to an ethical power supply! The doctor isn't much good at treating his people well, though."

"He is not!" Omega agreed forcefully, settling into a neutral stance.

"He isn't really known for treating anyone well," Rouge said with a little sigh, turning to Omega. "I heard they found you at the canyon base a few months ago?"

"Correct," he told her. "I am the last of the E-100 series. Former-master Robotnik posted me as security on the lowest level of a base unlikely to be visited!" Even without overly much inflection available to his synthesised voice, the big robot's indignation was clear. "If he will not use my abilities, the United Federation's military can!"

 _He's certainly enthusiastic,_ Shadow thought, looking up at him. Confident in his own ability, he didn't feel in the least intimidated by Omega, more… curious. Most robots he'd encountered were simplistically programmed, with rudimentary intelligence, but Omega was sapient, a person. Created, if in a different way, like Shadow himself had been.

"I am told you two will be my meatbag accompaniment?" Omega continued. Both Mobians looked at him in a combination of surprise and bewilderment, and Angseth hid a smile.

"Omega tends to call most organics that," he explained. Rouge's gaze turned to Shadow, and she smirked.

"Heh," Shadow said, quietly amused by the unlikely designation. "Yes, Omega, we are."

"I look forward to our teamwork! Eggman's threat-assessment protocols have much to say about both of you."

"Oh, really? It's been a while since I had a look into the doctor's files…" Rouge said. She'd intended to take a peek while she'd been passing through the canyon-embedded base — what _had_ Eggman called it? — in her pursuit of the Black Arms, but by the time she'd got there, the entire computer system had been brutally but effectively shut down.

"Your hacking ability is mentioned in the assessment!"

Rouge smiled sweetly. Now that was pleasant to hear. "It's always nice to be appreciated."

Omega's head turned slightly, focusing on Shadow. "And you! You are considered the same threat level as subject Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Shadow smirked. "Coming from Ivo, that's a compliment." He'd gained more of an understanding of the mad doctor, Gerald's grandson, over the last nine months, enough to be more than certain in his statement.

"Oh, definitely," Rouge agreed with a smile. Somewhere deep in her mind, an old train of thought picked up again, running idly around in a circle without answers. _Who is Sonic?_ There was no way that she could think of to get the information besides asking the hedgehog himself, and even a cursory study of his personality proved that would never work. But ever since she'd first been given Shadow's file, she'd had to wonder…

"It will be rewarding to work with both of you!" Omega concluded, breaking into her thoughts. No trace of them showed in her expression as she smiled again.

"I'm sure we'll feel the same."


	7. Friends Old and New IV: Like Old Times

_**Friends Old and New IV**_  
 **Just Like Old Times**

* * *

A dense cloudbank loomed ahead of the plane, thick in white and grey. Tails checked his radar and flew confidently on towards it, steering a sure course towards the outline displayed on his screens, hidden within its obscuring cloak. Forever shrouded in clouds, Angel Island had gone undetected even after the era of manned flight had begun. Tails had made something of a habit of charting its course as it drifted around Mobius high in the sky, reserving one setting on his Emerald detector for the Master Emerald's peculiar frequency. It was that he was homing in on now, miles above the trackless ocean.

"That's it, right?" Sonic called from the back of the plane, shouting over the wind that whipped past them both. Tails raised his right hand in a thumbs-up rather than answer with words, and kept on flying at full speed. The Tornado II shot into the cloudbank so fast that it whipped the clouds into a tunnel in its wake, a single ray of light briefly striking down through the island's cocoon as the plane cut clear through the sheath of cloud and into the interior. Sonic didn't so much as bat an ear as they hurtled towards the green ground below, braced himself only slightly as Tails pulled up hard, g-forces pinning them to the plane despite the screaming winds. Before they were even fully level, Sonic leapt off, hitting the ground already running and keeping pace with the plane. Tails laughed and dipped the near pair of wings in salute before slowing slightly to transform back to biplane mode.

As the Tornado II landed on a flattish patch of ground, a familiar figure pulled himself up over a ledge to watch them, folding his arms across the white crescent on his chest. Tails leapt from the plane and waved, and Sonic turned to look, then dashed over.

"Hey, Knuckles!"

Knuckles frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too!" Sonic retorted, grinning. "Looks like Eggman hasn't found his way back up here yet."

"Eggman?"

"Sonic says Shadow told him he's up to something again," Tails explained.

"Uh-huh! I figured I'd come give you some advance warning for once, _before_ he stole your Emerald this time!"

"Hmm." Knuckles regarded him dubiously. Sonic was shifting his weight from foot to foot, ready to run. He looked even more hyperactive — and therefore more annoying — than usual. On the other hand, while it was like Sonic to turn up without warning, it wasn't like him to lie about the reason. Knuckles had learnt that the hard way. That meant Eggman probably was-

"So, are you coming?"

Sonic might not have realised he was interrupting Knuckles' thoughts, but that didn't make it any less irritating.

"Coming where?"

Sonic looked at him as though he'd just asked the stupidly obvious. "To stop Eggman, of course! Come on!"

Knuckles was on the verge of saying no and turning away when he hesitated, some deep-seated sense warning him that there was something more. He rarely ignored his intuition, guided by the Master Emerald. The times he had typically hadn't ended well. He looked across them both, Tails standing a little way behind Sonic, their aeroplane in the background. The ray of light their passage through the clouds had brought was fading, but it still lit them all brightly. Sonic fidgeted, and Tails watched him hopefully. Something wasn't quite right about the scene, and Knuckles couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he decided he didn't need to.

"All right," he said. It felt right. He didn't feel the tug of guardianship that sometimes held him back from leaving Angel Island, the warning that not all would go well in his absence. It felt right to be leaving this time. "I'll be back when I've moved the Master Emerald."

"Aw, man!"

Knuckles ignored Sonic's complaint, leaping from the ledge and gliding out towards the edge of the island, where the Master Emerald rested atop its ancient altar. The Emerald Chamber underground was where he hid it when danger came to his island, and after some repairs, it was once more as secure as he could make it. Once his Emerald was safe there, he'd be ready to go.


	8. Breaking Out

_Ardil: Hello, everybody! Two chapters for the price of one today, to make up for missing last week! You are still reading, right? I hope we haven't lost you guys! Stay tuned, because things are going to get interesting...!_

* * *

 **Breaking Out**

* * *

Eggman had left him alone in the testing area for what felt like forever. At first, it had been fun. He'd challenged himself, pushing further and further until every system save his power supply burned at the very limit of its tolerances. Then, after he'd dropped to one knee with one hand on the floor after taking out every single target he'd given himself, he'd straightened up again and walked towards the exit — and stopped.

He stood in front of the doorway, glaring in his mind at an invisible, intangible barrier. He wanted to go out and look around, yet his body would barely obey. Somewhere dim and distant in the back of his mind, he knew he wanted, _needed_ to run. Somewhere out there, his double was running free and fleet in the sun and wind, and everything in him burned to do the same. Yet instead he stood, waiting, in the room where he'd been commanded to stay. Focusing all his will had let him take one slow, dragging step, and another, and then he'd stopped.

 _I stayed in here for ages!_ he thought angrily, frustrated and annoyed by a restriction he should never have felt. _"No way I'm gonna stay forever!"_ It wasn't like Eggman had actually told him he needed to be there for days. It wasn't like he even needed to listen to Eggman in the first place! Except he did… didn't he?

He stood, frustrated, for a while before an announcement suddenly came on over the speakers.

"Neo Metal Sonic, report to the command room." It was Eggman, a little distorted by the low quality of his speakers. He couldn't even manage to install a decent sound system! It didn't matter, though: this was what he'd been waiting for! Eagerly, he stepped out of the door and into the corridor beyond, turning to the left without thinking about it, footsteps clicking on the floor as he walked.

Walked?

 _Why am I walking?_ He thought about speeding up, but something held him back. He just didn't feel like it, not in here. Once he got outside, though… then it would be different. Then, everything would change.

Moving no faster than walking speed, it took him a while to reach the command room, where Eggman sat waiting for him with an expression of malicious glee behind his oversized moustache. He stepped inside without hesitation, the doors closing behind him, and walked up to the mad doctor with his usual confident stride. There was a moment of dissonance, and he- no, he couldn't frown. His eyes flickered in momentary puzzlement. Eggman, too obsessed with his own schemes, didn't notice.

"Ah, there you are!" Eggman's voice had that grandiose, lecturing tone he always got right before he started going on about how smart he was. "I've managed to locate exactly what you need! Do you remember Chaos?"

"Chaos?" Rather than wait for an answer, he reached for the flickering shapes of knowledge at the back of his mind. Eggman had said something about Chaos before, but he hadn't really cared about it. "The God of Destruction?" Images and information were flooding his mind. Huh… so that was Chaos.

"Well, I've located the key to Chaos' power! The frog that had Chaos' tail is in Station Square right now! Once Sonic's safely out of the way, you'll be able to go and get it!" Eggman leant forwards. "You'll also need to bring back a Chao. It doesn't matter which one: they're all the same, and there are plenty of them in the city. You look enough like Sonic with your hologram active that if you keep moving, no-one should even notice you aren't him!"

 _I'm not… no, I'm not Sonic. Sonic has to die! There can only be one of us — and it's going to be me!_

"Now," Eggman went on, "I've detected Tails' Emerald leaving the Mystic Ruins and heading-"

"He's going to meet Sonic," he cut in exasperatedly. Wasn't it obvious? "They're going to Angel Island."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure!" he snapped, annoyed at the doubt in Eggman's voice. Did he really think that _he_ wouldn't know what his double was doing? What he would be doing? His answer had been instinctive, but for him, that just meant it was probably right.

"You will not argue with me!" Eggman shouted back, and again he felt the restriction settle over him. Well — fine!

"Fine! I'll go get that froggy you wanted!" He was already turning when he wondered what he'd just said. It made sense, somehow, but he didn't know exactly how.

"What?" Eggman repeated, puzzled. "-Anyway, you will _not_ go. You will stay here until I can confirm Sonic has left the area altogether! Then, and only then, will you go to Station Square, where you-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get the frog, get a Chao, and get out," he said, cutting Eggman short again. Couldn't he just say things once? _This is taking forever!_ "You already told me that!"

Eggman harrumphed noisily, obviously annoyed. "Stop interrupting! Now, this is that fox's projected position." He gestured at his screen, and Metal stepped sullenly around him to see it. "Once I've confirmed that his and Sonic's Emeralds are on a course for Angel Island, you'll set off for Station Square. And I want you back within a six-hour window!"

Station Square was a long way away, but six hours would be more than enough! He nodded, already anticipating the world outside endlessly unfolding before him, blurring past in a rush of speed and a blast of wind, effortlessly surpassing the speed of sound on his own — jets. Once again, the concepts jarred against one another and refused to fit. He decided it didn't matter. It wouldn't be long before he was free to run…

-.-.-

He stood in the doorway of the base, sunlight spilling across him, reflecting dully from matte-blue surfaces. He held up one silver-plated hand and looked at it. Right, and yet… not right. The sun was neutral on his metallic skin, neither cool nor warm, though he could see it shining in the infrared. Wind gusted past: he could see it in the trees, but it was too weak to affect him. Everything felt odd, as if he was standing a step further from the world than he should be.

He shook his head. It didn't matter, none of it mattered. It was time to run! Snapping into motion so fast that he seemed to all but disappear in a thunderclap of smoke and jet flare, he crouched and leapt and shot off into the sky. He could keep up the pace forever, power blazing in his heart, cutting a spiral through the clouds for the sheer joy of it and swooping back down to go blazing over the land, the hills and plains unrolling endlessly ahead as he shot from shadow to shadow and sunlight to sunlight, the wind a physical thing now that fought him and tried to force him aside and always, always failed. He laughed to himself, revelling in the thrill of it, in the sight of it, in the way the grass shot by beneath his — motionless — feet.

It was wrong. It was so achingly close to perfect and yet, somehow, it was still wrong.

"Sonic," he said to himself, the word whipped away without sense by the air that struck him every instant like a wall. "I'm Sonic."

The words were right, and the words were wrong. Memories flashed and fragmented and patched themselves back together. He ran, he flew; he leapt and met himself and knew what he was doing even as he did, and he was flung away, and Sonic was flung away, and he won, and he lost, and Sonic's mind blanked into black unconsciousness.

"Sonic has to die!"

That, at least, felt right. There could only be one of them, only ever be one. The blue hedgehog who ran and laughed in the sunlight just like he did _had to die._ He scared him. Something about him scared him, and he pushed the thought aside, focusing his being into flying as fast as he ever had, the miles obliterated in his wake. Somewhere out there his hated counterpart was doing the same, and every moment that passed brought them closer to the moment when they would meet again, and only one would leave.


End file.
